


Old Habits (and Patients)

by schmicomalec



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Future Fic, Levi Schmitt is Levi Kim, Light Angst, Light Racism, M/M, anti-Semitism, daily reminder: fuck nazis, daily reminder: support jews, married, remember the nazi from 4x09?, supportive nico, yeah that guy is back in the hospital
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 06:12:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18911176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schmicomalec/pseuds/schmicomalec
Summary: Set a few years in the future, Levi and Nico are married and Levi is a trauma attending.Nico and Levi meet a patient from Grey + Sloan's past who doesn't take kindly to either of them.





	Old Habits (and Patients)

**Author's Note:**

> I came up with this idea when I was throwing some married prompts around in my head and some old Grey's reruns were on. I kind of wished Cristina had had more of a moment of reflection with her faith in that episode so I gave it to Levi. Also daily reminder to support jews and fuck nazis.

“Dr. Kim!” Nico turned around to the sound of Bailey calling after him.

“Yes, chief?” He asked, confused as to why she was practically sprinting down the hallway after him.

“You’re the only attending with no scheduled surgeries today. I need you to cover the pit.” Bailey explained.

Nico groaned internally and thought of a way to get out of this. “I have post-ops I need to manage and-”

“That’s what interns and residents are for. Hunt, Altman, and Schmitt are all in a surgery right now. Car crash earlier, pretty gruesome. I need an attending in the pit until those three finish up and since I’ve already assigned your post-ops, you’re clear to cover.” Bailey patted Nico’s shoulder.

“Levi and I have been married for three years, I know you know his last name is Kim not Schmitt.” Nico sighed, having given up on getting out of ER duty.

“Having two Kims is confusing, just like when the Karevs put me through this. I am very busy today and do not have time to try to keep two people with the same name sorted in my head.” 

“You could call him Levi.” Nico suggested.

Bailey snorted. “Yeah and you could call me Miranda. Get to work Dr. Kim.”

Nico sighed and made for the ER floor. When he got down there, he put on a trauma gown right away and looked for any patients who needed help. 

An hour or so into it, he had treated and discharged two flu patients and admitted an older man complaining of chest pain. A resident had so eagerly offered to take him up to CT for Nico so he was stuck down there for a little while longer. 

While Nico hated to admit it, being a surgeon and all, he didn’t care much for blood or guts. He had wanted to be a doctor since he was a kid and thought he would just have to learn to deal, up until two years into pre-med that he took an orthopedic health class and decided then and there he would be a bone guy. 

Just as he was about to move onto the next patient, a nurse called out an incoming trauma. He put on a new pair of gloves and ran outside to meet the ambulance. 

The bus pulled up soon and out jumped two paramedics.

“Shane Erickson, white male, late 50s, fully conscious, broke his leg when a bookshelf collapsed on top of him, we splinted it en route. Vitals are mostly stable but his BP has been fluctuating.” One of the paramedics said as she pulled the gurney out of the rig. 

“Well this guy is very lucky that an ortho surgeon was covering the ER today.” Nico grinned, happy to finally have a case in his specialty. He wheeled the gurney into the hospital quickly. “Is trauma 1 open?” He called to the nurses’ station.

“Yes it is.” 

“Perfect.” He pulled the patient into the trauma room and began assessing. “Mr. Erickson, my name is Dr. Kim and I’ll be fixing that leg up for you. Dr. Stone here” Nico gestured to the resident working the pit with him, “is gonna hook you up quickly so we can get a read on your vitals.”

Nico grabbed a pair of scissors and cut up the pants leg so he could get a better look at the injury. When Shane was fully wired up, he also glanced at his vitals.

“Paramedics were right your blood pressure is moving around quite a bit.” Nico thought out loud. “Page trauma, see if any of those three can come out of that surgery.” He said to a nearby nurse.

She made a quick call then re entered the room. “They’re closing now so Dr. Kim is on his way down.”

“Lovely. Thank you, Kary.” Nico said to the nurse. 

His patient, Shane, huffed something under his breath. 

“What was that, Mr. Erickson?” Dr. Stone, Nico’s resident for the day, asked.

“It’s just, I know schools seem to only admit Asians these days but in just one hospital the only two surgeons I’ve seen or heard about are chinks?” Shane scowled.

Nico and Dr. Stone shared a look before he went back to work ignoring that comment as best he could.

“I could tell you why what you just said is incorrect but I think it’s going to be much funnier when you just see it for yourself.” Dr. Stone said to Shane as she finished noting his vitals.

Nico smiled slightly at that, and before anyone could say anything else, Levi practically slid into the trauma room, still tying his gown.

“What’s up?” He asked, still catching his breath.

“Jesus, did you sprint here?” Nico asked.

“I hustled, that’s what you do when you get paged to the ER.” Levi answered.

“Next time I’ll have the Kary tell you it’s not that urgent so you don’t run and trip and die on your way here.” Nico shook his head. “Patient got caught under a book shelf that fell, we’ve got a broken leg but his BP is doing a little dance and I’m not sure why.”

“And that’s why you need me.” Levi smiled, he had gotten a little cocky since he became a trauma attending.

“Wait.” Shane interjected. “I thought you said a Dr. Kim was coming.”

“He is Dr. Kim.” Stone answered. “Tall one is Dr. Nico Kim and short one is Dr. Levi Kim.”

Shane stared in confusion until Levi realized what was happening. “We’re married.” He explained. 

“Oh.”

“Speaking of that, I’m happy that you came down here because we still need to figure out this Christmas/Hanukkah ordeal with my mother coming into town.” Nico said as he began stitching part of the broken leg.

“Okay first of all, you should be happy I came down here because you should be happy to see your husband and second of all, there’s nothing left to discuss. Hanukkah stuff stays up in the house until Hanukkah is over and then we can switch it out for the Christmas stuff.” Levi replied.

“Can’t we just put the tree up for my mom? She’s not staying long enough for actual Christmas and she’s going to have a nervous breakdown if she thinks I’m not celebrating Christmas enough.” Nico pleaded.

“I know, she had a nervous breakdown when she saw a rabbi at our wedding. But I’m not giving up my jewishness in my own house when I have Christmas coming out of my ears everywhere else I go this time of year.” Levi turned back to face his actual patient. “Sir, are you on any medications?”

“No but I take some advil every now and then. I had surgery in my abdomen almost twenty years ago and sometime I get little pain flares from the scar.” 

“Not totally uncommon but something may have ruptured in your abdomen from the bookshelf or maybe it’s just the advil that’s messing with your BP. I’m gonna have to take a look to figure that out.” Levi took the scissors from where Nico had set them down to cut off Shane’s shirt.

“No you really don’t have to-”

“Sir.” Levi interrupted, “It’s my job.” He cut open the shirt before his patient could get another word out. On the man’s stomach was a long vertical scar cutting through a black tattoo. It appeared to be four bending lines coming from the center, though two of them had been misshapen by the scar.

“Oh… is that a… uh-” Dr. Stone began.

“I-I mean I guess if the.. uh .. the surgery um-” Levi stuttered.

Nico heard Levi and Stone being weird and finally looked up from what he was doing on the leg. “What are you guys freaking out about?” He glanced down at the tattoo.

Levi was frozen, still holding the scissors in one hand, staring at Shane’s stomach. Nico set down his work and grabbed Levi’s shoulders. “Okay you’re getting out of here for a minute.” He guided a shell shocked Levi back into the ER and flagged down a nurse. “I need you to page Dr. Altman or Hunt. One of them needs to come down here and help with this patient.”

Nico kept walking Levi through the hospital until they reached an on-call room. He closed the door behind them then sat his husband down on the bed.

“Nico, that tattoo… it was a swastika, wasn’t it?” Levi still hadn’t moved his gaze since seeing it.

“Yeah. It was.” Nico sighed kneeled down in front of Levi.

“That guy - my patient - he’s a nazi.” Levi finally looked Nico in the eye. “And he knows that I’m jewish, and gay. I just walked right in there and pretty much said flat out that I’m a gay jew and he’s an actual honest-to-god nazi and-” Levi choked up before he could finish.

“Levi, I am not going to let that man anywhere near you. You are a good doctor and a good man and you should not have to be afraid like this in your own place of work. He’s not your patient anymore, Altman or Hunt will handle it from here and I promise the moment we can discharge him he will be out of this hospital. And he will know that unless he requires medical attention he will not be welcome here again.” Nico squeezed Levi’s hand.

“But I’m a doctor. I can’t just pick and choose which patients I’m going to treat. I took the Hippocratic oath and its supposed to apply to everyone who needs my help.” Levi said through sobs.

“Hey, you are not denying him treatment or anything like that. He is going to get his leg in a cast and most likely be advised to take less advil and just because you’re having another doctor do it does not mean you’re doing anything wrong. In fact you’re doing the hospital a favor by removing yourself from a case with the potential for a malpractice suit should anything go wrong and handing that case over to a just as highly skilled doctor.” Nico reassured.

Levi nodded and tried to stifle back his tears. 

“Okay?” Nico tried to offer a small smile. “I’m going to let Bailey know what’s going on and then go cast that stupid leg. I can cover the pit for the rest of the day if you want to maybe make sure the interns aren’t killing my post-ops.” 

Levi giggled and started to compose himself. When Nico stood up to leave, he grabbed his hand quickly. “Wait, you get off at seven tonight, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I get off at eight, could you maybe wait for me? I don’t want to drive home alone.” 

“Of course, babe.” Nico gave Levi a quick kiss on the forehead and started for the door. “I’ll see you at eight. I love you.”

  
  


“Honey, it’s just that Christmas is supposed to be the most joyous time of the year and I don’t see even a scrap of it in your house.” Mrs. Kim told Nico as he helped move her bags to the guest room.

“As I already explained over the phone, the last night of Hanukkah isn’t until next week so we’re keeping the Hanukkah stuff up until then.” Nico sighed.

“But then your Christmas things will only be up for a few days.” 

“Mom, Levi’s faith is extremely important to him. And you and Dad and me aren’t even C and E christians. I am more than happy to give up decorations for a holiday that belongs to a religion I barely practice if it makes my husband happy.” Nico explained.

His mother gave him a resigned look. “Can we at least see that lovely ice rink in the downtown this weekend? They have the most spectacular Christmas tree.”

“Of course, Mom.” Nico hugged her after he set down her last bag.

“Brisket’s ready!” Levi called from the kitchen. 

Mrs. Kim shot Nico a look.

“He’s jewish, get over it.” Nico said sternly. “And that’s his mom’s brisket recipe which I know you know is goddamn delicious.”


End file.
